If October were a color, it would be my favorite color

[bironic]

It's sunny and in the 50s. The leaves are turning. Local stores are draped with leaves and corn husks, and scattered houses have Halloween decorations out on the lawn and orange fairy lights strung up over the porches. I've cooked half a bushel of apples into pies and dinners. Kids and dogs can be seen on the streets in costumes.

In other words: It's properly autumn, and I am happy.

Today thedeadparrot and I walked down a closed-off street where they were having kid-friendly Halloween activities. That was cute. Many dinosaurs and rocket girls and hot dog toddlers, and pumpkin carving with power tools, live music and free snacks. Our award for best costume went to a family of sharks: mom in a shark hoodie, dad in a shark costume, kid ditto, and also the dog, looking confused with its little fins and tail. They had dorsal fins in back and everything.



Even better than that was last night's trip to a jack-o-lantern walk at the zoo down in Providence, Rhode Island. Parrot and stultiloquentia joined. That was super great. So many jack-o-lanterns! Some art pieces and a lot of emotive faces, grouped in A-to-Z categories and all aglow against trees and water.




Karloff's Frankenstein's creature, perhaps my favorite pumpkin of the evening.



Letters in honor of the alphabet theme.



I is for Impressionists; an impressive Van Gogh jack-o-lantern.



L is for Literature. There was also a Gatsby, etc., and a whole Alice in Wonderland section.





K is for Kings and Knights and stuff. Henry VIII jack-o-lantern and now I've seen everything.



There were also particularly memorable jack-o-lanterns for True Blood (V is for Vampire), Robin Williams and Philip Seymour Hoffman (R is for Remembrance), Gandhi and MLK Jr. (an epilogue of sorts). And of course many many adorable faces.



The grand finale, with 1,200-pound pumpkins on the ground scaling to mini pumpkins on netting up in the trees.




It took about 45 minutes to walk through. Made me feel like a kid, excited to be outside after dark, surrounded by spooky lights.

Comments

[no-detective.livejournal.com]

Oooooh. That sounds - and looks - magical indeed!

[bironic.livejournal.com]

It was such a blast. And, ha, hello; you were among the last people I expected to see here, given your own October experience and feelings. Thanks for stopping by. <3

[no-detective.livejournal.com]

Hey, October is beautiful, regardless of my irrational seasonal discomforts. <3 Thank you for the gorgeous pictures! Those pumpkins are ART.

[zulu.livejournal.com]

Those are amazing pumpkins! How do they get them so thin?

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Unknown at this point! We had many questions about the carving methods, including whether some of the carvings had black paint or ink on some of the detailed areas of relief or if they really just looked that dark in comparison to the thinner lit parts, and how one of the Alice in Wonderland pumpkins looked like a watercolor.

[chocolate-frapp.livejournal.com]

tell Linus there are LOTS of great pumpkins!